Wall-E

In writing his capsule review of "Wall-E" in which he gives the movie a critics' choice award, LA Times reviewer Kenneth Turan writes:

Daring and traditional, ground-breaking and familiar, apocalyptic and sentimental, this often wordless story of robots in love gains strength from embodying contradictions that would destroy other films. “Wall-E” is the latest computer animated Pixar film to manage what’s become next door to impossible fro anyone else: appealing to the broadest possible audience without insulting anyone’s intelligence.

Synopsis WALL-E
After hundreds of lonely years of doing what he was built for, WALL-E (short for Waste Allocation Load Lifter Earth-Class) discovers a new purpose in life (besides collecting knick-knacks) when he meets a sleek search robot named EVE. EVE comes to realize that WALL-E has inadvertently stumbled upon the key to the planet's future, and races back to space to report her findings to the humans (who have been eagerly awaiting word that it is safe to return home). Meanwhile, WALL-E chases EVE across the galaxy and sets into motion one of the most exciting and imaginative comedy adventures ever brought to the big screen. Joining WALL-E on his fantastic journey across a universe of never-before-imagined visions of the future, is a hilarious cast of characters including a pet cockroach, and a heroic team of malfunctioning misfit robots.

Opened June 27, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 37 min.
G
Cast: Ben Burtt, Elissa Knight, Jeff Garlin, Fred Willard, Macintalk
Director: Andrew Stanton
Genres: Adventure Comedy, Comedy, Children's/Family, Sci-Fi Adventure

Wall-E show times by zip at Fandango.com

The Unknown Woman

In giving "The Unknown Woman" a critics' choice award, LA Times reviewer Kevin Thomas writes:

“Cinema Paradiso’s” Giueseppe Tornatore transforms melodrama into a timeless tale of love and redemption as a Ukrainian refugee tormented by a terrible past, goes to extremes to become the nanny of an adorable but fragile little Italian girl. A woman’s picture par excellence!

Synopsis "The Unknown Woman"
Irena (Xenia Rappoport), an emigrant who fled Eastern Europe and has moved to a Northern Italian city. She easily fell prey to ruthless, unscrupulous men and was subjected to unspeakable brutalities and humiliations, the kind that can never be put to rest. Only one beautiful memory remains for Irena, a melancholic, heartrending lost love. The mysterious woman seems to have a very precise motive when she tries to find work as a cleaning lady. From the window of her apartment, she spies intently upon the building across the street. Though Irena’s job is to clean and polish the stairs of that building, her true aim is to get close to a family living there. There is the wife Valeria (Claudia Gerini), her husband Donato (Pierfrancesco Favino), and their little girl Tea (Clara Dossena). Nothing will stop Irena from getting herself a job in their household. Not even murder.

*Note: This film is presented in Italian with English subtitles.

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 58 min.
Cast: Kseniya Rappoport, Michele Placido, Claudia Gerini, Pierfrancesco Favino, Alessandro Haber
Director: Giuseppe Tornatore
Genres: Psychological Thriller, Thriller

Show times for "The Unknown Woman" at Fandango.com

My Winnipeg

Kenneth Turan awards the documentary film "My Winnipeg" an LA Times critics' choice award:

Cnadian alternative cinema legend Guy Madden uses the tools that made him famous, including a gift for making faded black and white foootage look unexpectedly beautifu, to create an evocative hommage to a city he cliearly loves. Part civic history, part fantasy and part personal psychodrama.

Synopsis "My Winnipeg"
Have you ever wanted to relive your childhood and do things differently? Guy Maddin casts B-movie icon Ann Savage as his domineering mother in attempt to answer that question in "My Winnipeg", a hilariously wacky and profoundly touching goodbye letter to his childhood hometown. The film is a documentary that blends local and personal history with surrealist images and metaphorical myths that cover everything from the fire at the local park, which leads to a frozen lake of distressed horse heads, to pivotal, sometimes traumatic, factually heightened scenes from Maddin's own childhood

Opened June 13, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 20 min. Cast: Darcy Fehr, Ann Savage, Amy Stewart, Brendan Cade, Wesley Cade, Louis Negin
Director: Guy Maddin
Genres: Avant-garde / Experimental, Biography, Social History

Show times for My Winnipeg by zip code at Fandango.com

Don't Miss Seeing "The Visitor"

There are no new critics' choice recommendations in today's LA Times Calendar, so I thought I'd make a plug for "The Visitor" which I saw last night. This is an incredible movie that is jam-packed with natural acting talent that blew me away, and flooded with heart-warming emotion and pathos. So if it's showing in your neighborhood, it's one I personally recommend. Othewise, be sure to add it to your Netfilx queue for when "The Visitor" comes out on DVD.

You can search for local showtimes for "The Visitor" in the U.S. at Fandango.

Bigger, Stronger, Faster

Carina Cochano gives "Bigger, Stronger, Faster" a critics' award:

Christopher Bell's documentary about the win-at-all-costs culture of bodybuilders and the steroid subculture is a fascinating, unexpectedly profound and melancholy mediation on what we have become as a country and the misguided obsessions that made us this way.

Synopsis Bigger, Stronger, Faster
From the producers of Bowling For Columbine and Fahrenheit 9/11 comes a new film that unflinchingly explores our win-at-all-cost culture through the lens of a personal journey. Blending comedy and pathos, Bigger, Stronger, Faster* is a collision of pop culture, animated sequences and first-person narrative, with a diverse cast including US Congressmen, professional athletes, medical experts and everyday gym rats. At its heart, this is the story of director Christopher Bell and his two brothers, who grew up idolizing muscular giants like Hulk Hogan, Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, and who went on to become members of the steroid-subculture in an effort to realize their American dream. When you discover that your heroes have all broken the rules, do you follow the rules, or do you follow your heroes?

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 45 min.
PG-13thematic material involving drugs, language, some sexual content and violent imagesollow your heroes?
Director: Christopher Bell
Genres: Biography, Culture & Society, Social Issues

Show times for Bigger, Stronger, Faster at Fandango.com

Tuya's Marriage

Kenneth Turan awards a Critics' Choice medal to "Tuya's Marriage" writing in his capsule review:

Wang Quan An's film exudes an infectious vitality as it vigorously plays humor against pathos amid the raw splendor of the steppes of Inner Mongolia. A physical setback causes a young Mongolian desert herder to find a suitor who can take care of her as well as her disabled husband and two children. In Mandarin, with English subtitles.

Tuya's Marriage
Opened April 4, 2008
NR
Cast: Yu Nan, Ba Te Er, Sen Ge, Zhaya, Peng Hongxiang
Director: Wang Quan'an
Genres: Drama, Romance

Sex and the City

Uh, oh! Yet another Critics' Choice award from Carina, this time for "Sex and the City: The Movie". Cochano advises "Fans of the series won't be disappointed".

Sex and the City: The Movie
Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, and Cynthia Nixon reprise their roles from the original HBO series on the big screen. Academy Award-winning actress Jennifer Hudson (Dreamgirls) also joins the cast of the film and will play Carrie Bradshaw's assistant, a new character to be introduced in the film.

Opened May 30, 2008 Runtime:2 hr. 15 min.
R strong sexual content, graphic nudity and language
Cast: Sarah Jessica Parker, Kim Cattrall, Kristin Davis, Cynthia Nixon, Chris Noth
Director: Michael Patrick King
Genres: Sex Comedy, Comedy, Urban Comedy

Reprise

Carina Chocano has certainly been busy handing out the Critics' Awards as here's another from her, this time for the movie "Reprise":

Norwegian director Joachim Trier's inspiring first feature "Reprise" joyfully tackles the process of self-creation, as well as the friendships that feed and sustain it. He captures, in a way that's cool and romantic and heady, the moment in life when nothing matters more than ideas, influences and the possibility of shaping one's life into a work of art. (Read Carina Cochano's full review of "Reprise")

Synopsis of "Reprise"
Erik and Phillip are trying to make it as writers. Erik is rejected by publishers as lacking in talent, while Phillip's manuscript is accepted and the young man becomes a major name on the Norwegian cultural scene practically overnight. Six months later, Erik and his friends come to visit Phillip at a psychiatric hospital to bring him home after long-term treatment. Writing is the last thing on Phillip's mind, but Erik is continuing his literary attempts and tries to convince his friend to go back to writing.

Opened May 16, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 45 min. R sexuality and language
Cast: Espen Klouman-Hoiner, Anders Danielsen Lie, Christian Rubeck, Odd Magnus Williamson, Pal Stokka
Director: Joachim Trier
Genres: Comedy Drama, Buddy Film

Redbelt

A Critics' Choice award from Carina Cochano for "Redbelt":

David Mamet's tricky and engrossing "Redbelt," [is] a contemporary noir with a samurai movie interior, as sincere, plaintive and strangely optimistic a movie as he's made.

Synopsis of Redbelt
Martial artist Mike Terry (Chiwetel Ejiofor) lives by a strict code of no competitions, for he feels that such contests weaken fighters. After saving a famous action star (Tim Allen) from a brutal attack, Mike takes a job in the film industry. He soon finds his personal beliefs and integrity on the line as circumstances force him to participate in a prize fight.

Cast: Chiwetel Ejiofor, Emily Mortimer, Alice Braga, Tim Allen, Joe Mantegna
Director: David Mamet
Genres: Action Thriller, Martial Arts, Thriller, Sports Drama
Opened May 2, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 39 min. R strong language

Forgetting Sarah Marshall

A Critics' Choice award for "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" from Carina Cochano:

If this film lacks the heady mix of sheet exuberance and unexpected maturity of the granddaddy of the genre, Judd Apatow's "40-Year-Old Virgin", it's more soulful than "Knocked Up" and more inclusive than "Superbad". It delights in its frequent raunchy moments but it functions on a mellower, more rueful level.

Synopsis of "Forgetting Sarah Marshall"
Struggling musician Peter Bretter is better-known as the boyfriend of TV star Sarah Marshall . After she unceremoniously dumps him, he feels lost and alone but makes a last-ditch bid to get over it by going to Hawaii. However, she and her new boyfriend are there in the same hotel.

Cast: Jason Segel, Kristen Bell, Mila Kunis, Russell Brand, Bill Hader
Director: Nick Stoller
Genres: Romantic Comedy, Comedy

The Edge of Heaven

An LA Times Critics' Choice Award from Carina Chocano for "The Edge of Heaven:

Faith Akin's engrossing story about the closeness and the divide between generations and cultures.

Synopsis of "The Edge of Heaven"
In a Turkish enclave in Bremen, patriarchal widower Ali brings home Yeter, a local prostitute, to tend to his domestic needs. Yeter is saving money to finance her daughter Ayten’s college education in Turkey. When Yeter is accidentally killed , Ali’s son Nejat heads to Turkey to find Ayten, who unbeknownst to him, has embarked on her own rebellious journey to Germany.

Cast: Baki Davrak, Tuncel Kurtiz, Nursel Köse, Nurgul Yesilcay, Hanna Schygulla
Director: Fatih Akin
Genres: Psychological Drama, Drama, Slice of Life
In German, Turkish, and English with English subtitles

Opened May 21, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 56 min. NR

Chop Shop

A Critics' Choice award for "Chop Shop" from Kevin Thomas of the LA Times

Director Ramin Barani celebrates human resilience and here harshness intermingles with joy in a film that is as clear-eyed as it is poetic.

Synopsis Chop Shop
12-year-old youth and his older sister live in the no-man’s land that is known as the Iron Triangle: a 20-block stretch of junkyards and chop shops (where stolen cars are dismantled for parts), overshadowed by Shea Stadium’s giant billboard : “Make Dreams Happen.” Young Alejandro (Alejandro Polanco) lives and works in an auto-body shop, apprenticing as a mechanic and hustling clients for his no-nonsense boss. With a mixture of childlike naivete and adult ambition, he obsessively saves money to buy a mobile-food van as he and his sister Isamar (Isamar Gonzales) dream about running a small business of their own.

Cast: Alejandro Polanco, Isamar Gonzales, Rob Sowulski, Carlos Zapata, Ahmad Razvi
Director: Ramin Bahrani
Genres: Drama, Childhood Drama
Opened February 27, 2008 Runtime:1 hr. 25 min.
Cast:
Alejandro Polanco Ale
Isamar Gonzales Isamar
Writers: Bahareh Azimi, Ramin Bahrani

Blindsight

Kenneth Turan gives "Blindsight" an LA Times "Critics' Choice" award

"Blindsight" starts with voices and a black screen, voices discussing part of a high mountain climb that would be scary if we could see what was going on and feels downright terrifying because we can't. The people in "Blindsight," however, are not scared, not scared at all. Directed by the gifted Lucy Walker, "Blindsight" is a documentary about what happens when six blind Tibetan teenagers set out to climb one of the highest mountains in the world. If this sounds like a heartening story, it is, but to describe it that way is to sell it seriously short. For this documentary turns out to be a complex drama about differing values and definitions of success, exploring the limits of transcendence as well as the transcending of limits. (Movie review of Blindsight by Kenneth Turan)

Director: Lucy Walker
Genres: Biography, Illnesses & Disabilities, Adventure Travel, Culture & Society
Running time: 1 hour, 44 minutes